By: Hellen Zaboulani
On Saturday night, Brooklyn suffered a tragic crash, as a car sped recklessly to evade cops.
As reported by the NY Post, a 67-year-old woman was killed, with four others being hospitalized. The victim’s 8-year-old grandson is among the injured, in critical condition at Maimonides Medical Center, officials said. The other three injured persons are being treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening conditions.
The reckless rampage spanned five blocks and ended up at the corner of Ralph Avenue and Halsey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant at about 7:10 p.m., police sources said. One of the suspects from the vehicle is in police custody, while police are still looking for the other two suspects who fled the vehicle by foot on Halsey Street following the crash. Charges are pending and the investigation is ongoing.
The NYPD officers had first spotted a vehicle which they suspected was stolen, with mismatched license plates and with passengers who seemed to be smoking marijuana, Assistant Chief Judith Harrison said at a news conference at the scene. Three officers in a patrol car pulled the car over at Ralph Avenue and Chauncey Street, she continued. “As our police officers exited their vehicle and walked up to that vehicle on foot, that vehicle fled at an extremely high rate of speed,” Harrison said.
The speeding car rammed into a 28-year-old biker but didn’t stop. At the corner of Ralph and Macon Street, it then smashed into a parked car and then hit the victim, Lynn Christopher, and her grandson walking near the crosswalk, as per NBC News. The young victim was “fighting for his life right now, he really could use your prayers,” Harrison said. The speeding vehicle continued on to hit another car, and crash them both into a corner business, while knocking down a 43-year-old man walking on the sidewalk.
In response to the tragic incident, Mayor Eric Adams said, “New Yorkers don’t deserve this. We lost a grandmother tonight, we lost one of my neighbors”. Adams slammed the state’s infamous bail reform law, as well as the judges, prosecutors and politicians responsible for the lenient laws. “A small number of bad people think they can do bad things and get out of jail because we have a bad criminal justice system,” the Mayor said passionately. He adding that he was sure these suspects had a previous record and shouldn’t have been on the street to begin with. “Without even know[ing] who they are, I guarantee you they have a long criminal record, I guarantee you they have a history. That’s the only thing we’re sure of,” Adams continued. “We are inviting innocent people to die in this city.” Hizzoner, who lives nearby on Brooklyn’s Lafayette Avenue, said the incident was “chilling”. “This is my community. I live blocks from here. I patronize these stores. These are my neighbors. No one deserves to walk across the street with their grandchild and to be struck.”
